Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up artfully, clearly, and concisely provides a thorough grounding in the Zen Buddhist attitude you will need in order to move forward and control the people you work for. This book guarantees personal enlightenment while providing literally dozens of helpful, specific exercises and solutions to the most common problems of professional life.

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Publisher's Summary

Here is Stanley Bing at his best giving you the ying and the yang of the business world. If What Would Machiavelli Do? was the meanest business book in recent history, Throwing the Elephant provides the yang to that yin.

Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up artfully, clearly, and concisely provides a thorough grounding in the Zen Buddhist attitude you will need in order to move forward and control the people you work for. This book guarantees personal enlightenment while providing literally dozens of helpful, specific exercises and solutions to the most common problems of professional life.

What the Critics Say

"In a spoof of just about every career advice and management-by-metaphor book ever created, Bing delivers a Zen-like guide to managing your boss. The premise? Here's what Buddha would tell you if he were your personal career coach." (Publishers Weekly) "A clever book on how to manage elephants, a.k.a. bosses....Witty and thought-provoking...imaginative and unique." (Library Journal) "This is essential reading for anyone who hates his or her boss and the corporate structure in general." (Booklist)

Could David possibly be an elephant? This book is not about climbing any ladders, it's about being effective and happy where you are on the ladder. I found the approach and the content helpful and would recommend it to anyone looking to make sense of the Dibertesque corporate cultures that control most of our waking hours.

Updated Zen business philosophy. Original content. Great voice actor. I hate homework so instead of writing a twenty word review, I'll just press the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ symbolizing that time is money.

This is a great book for a review and fun to listen too. It tells you some words of wisdom in a humorous and stylistic manner that makes you picture some of the mistakes you've made in the past and how to share them with the people you lead. I would recommend this to others who enjoy laughing and visualizing situations. Also to people who are coaching future leaders. Can it help you with your own situations in working with yoiur own leader...yes it can.

I have listend to this book several times (rented from the library) and liked it enough to buy it. I think the reader is humorous and the content is very good, if you listen to what he is saying. The Zen attitude for corporate culture was refreshing and helpful. I would recommend this book to anyone (working for an elephant) who wants to learn how to accept the Zen way of thinking and apply it in the business world and help yourself have a better attitude about life.

The worst book I've ever forced myself to listen too. Well, I actually only listened to approximately 50% of the book (as I forwarded along). This book is great for those that want to blame others for everything that goes wrong in their lives. It's certainly not for anyone working diligently to get ahead in any corporation (American or otherwise). Save your time and money and move past this selection.

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